Kagat McQuillan, 2022

Thesis:

Factors affecting the production of berries of the red huckleberry plant in the Redwood Experimental Forest

Mark Douglas, 2011

Thesis:

Yosemite Wilderness Visitor Travel Patterns -- Implications for Trailhead Permit Quotas

Yosemite National Park uses a trailhead quota system to manage wilderness visitors. Park scientists set user capacities in the 1970s for wilderness zones and trailhead quotas from prevalent travel patterns and a computer simulation model. Limiting how many visitors start daily at a trailhead maintains overnight zone use within capacity if trip characteristics (party size, trip duration, spatiotemporal itinerary adherence) remain similar to the 1970s. Evidence suggests that travel patterns have changed since this system's inception. Data on which the original trailhead quotas were based, and the data on itinerary adherence, are nearly forty years old, and the supposition is that visitor use consists of a larger number of shorter distance and shorter duration trips. Consequently, travel zone capacities are likely being exceeded in some zones on high-use nights. To accurately assess wilderness use distribution and to develop a contemporary travel simulation model, wilderness trips from 1 May - 30 September 2010 were evaluated in regard to mean party size, trip duration, and spatial and temporal adherence to the permit itinerary. Multiple visitor use scenarios (e.g. alternate trailhead permit quotas) were then simulated and the results presented to Yosemite Wilderness managers.

Mark subsequently earned his Ph.D. at the University of Montana in Missoula and is currently an assistant professor at the University of Maine at Machias

Kristen Pope, 2010

Thesis:

Visitor Perceptions of Wilderness Rescue

Wilderness visitation has changed somewhat in recent years with the widespread availability of personal technology such as GPS, cell phones, and emergency personal locator beacons. It is possible this has encouraged individuals from a wider variety of skill levels and backgrounds to visit wilderness. As devices like personal locator beacons become readily available, more visitors may bring them into wilderness and use them to request rescues, and may develop unrealistic expectations of rescue. In 2009, 235 overnight visitors to the King Range Wilderness in California completed a written survey. \Pro-technology\" respondents (55% of the sample) felt that technology increased one's safety in wilderness and would be more likely to use technology to request a wilderness rescue. \"Anti-technology\" respondents (45%) felt very strongly that technology cannot substitute for skill experience and knowledge were very unlikely to take chances that could increase risk just because they had technology with them and did not agree that technology reduced dangers and made them feel safer in A1:M73 wilderness. Those with personal experience of a serious wilderness A1:M73 were more likely to believe that technology creates a false sense of safety for wilderness users than were people who have not been involved in a serious wilderness accident.

Jeff Marsolais, 2004

Thesis:

Visitor Perceptions of Management Actions Across the Recreation Opportunity Spectrum

Lee Minicuci,

Thesis:

Utilizing Root Traits to Aid in Climate Resilient Grassland Restoration Planning

Jordan Adair, 2021

Thesis:

Using UAV and traditional remote sensing data to detect vegetation vigor and monitor stream morphology in a desert riparian ecosystem

Ian McGovern, 2008

Thesis:

Using Multiple Resolution Digital Images and GIS to determine vegetation sampling locations at Whiskeytown National Recreational Area

Kelsey McDonald, 2014

Thesis:

Tidal Seed Dispersal Potential of <em>Spartina densiflora</em> in Humboldt Bay (Humboldt County, California)

Kelsey's research examined the tidal dispersal potential of the invasive cordgrass Spartina densiflora from saltmarshes in Humboldt Bay (Humboldt County, California) by demonstrating the net direction and quantity of seeds drifting in tidal creeks in the saltmarshes. Kelsey also measured the buoyancy duration of S. densiflora seeds in still water and compare this with seeds in an orbital shaker to simulate bay and ocean conditions. The results of the buoyancy study will help to estimate how long S. densiflora seeds can float and therefore how far they might be able to travel in ocean and bay currents to invade other regions along the West Coast.